Many of us grew up in the days of simple baby monitors that our parents put near the crib so they could hear us in another room if we began to cry. We may have even had these for some of our older children. Today, many parents have much more advanced monitoring systems that include cameras mounted in the nursery and throughout the house so they can always keep track of their babies on devices like phones and tablets. These often give parents peace of mind when laying their babies to sleep.
Some even believe these cameras can help identify the mysterious deaths of infants who die in their sleep. Now, recent research utilizing home surveillance footage suggests that febrile seizures may have been the cause of death for several children who passed away, offering what could be invaluable insight to parents as well as the medical community.
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Thousands of infants die in their sleep each year.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 3,400 infants under 1 year old die suddenly in the United States annually, and around 1,400 of those deaths are due to sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. According to the National Institutes of Health, around 1,800 children aged 1 year and older die from sudden unexplained deaths in children, or SUDC.
The new small study is giving researchers hope.
Researchers at NYU Langone looked at SUDC deaths of toddlers and analyzed home surveillance footage from the night their children died. Among those who died, five toddlers had brief seizures before death.
“It’s hard to watch,” said Dr. Orrin Devinsky, an NYU neurologist and the study’s senior author, told NBC News. “We have video which is in some ways the best evidence we may ever get of what’s happened to these kids.”
Crib cameras may be able to help identify some of the causes of death.
Hayden Fell reportedly died in his sleep when he was 17 months old. His parents told NBC News that everything about the night that he went to sleep was normal, but when his father, Justin Fell, tried to wake him, Hayden was dead. He reportedly died from SUDC, but a camera in his nursery gave a clue as to what may have happened. Sometime during the night in November 2022, Hayden appears to have suffered from a febrile seizure.
Hayden had his first febrile seizure after his first birthday.
His parents told NBC News that he had febrile seizures multiple times with illnesses, but that he always got better quickly. They never anticipated the seizures could be fatal.
“I thought he would be fine and it was just a matter of letting this run its course,” Justin Fell said. But tragically, his son died. “It was every parent’s nightmare.”
Hayden’s mom, Katie Czajkowski-Fell, said that she hoped the video from the night Hayden died would help researchers determine why febrile seizures are killing children.
“His life, it was too precious and too important for us to not try and do something with this tragedy,” she said.
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Doctors want parents to be cautious.
Dr. Marco Hefti, a neuropathologist at the University of Iowa, explained to NBC News that autopsies don’t show evidence of febrile seizure, but surveillance footage often does. He said that parents need to be aware of what is happening with their children and monitor their health, but not to obsess over it.
“It’s not that parents need to be stressing out, panicking about every febrile seizure,” he cautioned. He added that he wants to see additional research to help identify what is causing these seizures to turn fatal.
Per NBC News, SUDC is the cause of death in around 250 children aged 1 to 4 in US annually, most happening while the child sleeps.
*Disclaimer: The advice on CafeMom.com is not a substitute for consultation with a medical professional or treatment for a specific condition. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified professional. Please contact your health-care provider with questions and concerns.
